Robert interview with Folha de S. Paulo

"This one published in "Folha de S.Paulo" (English), one of the largest newspapers published in São Paulo. Among the topics:

- The band has rehearsed 60 songs, best set list ever. RS decides, he does hear what others in the band have to say, but RS decides about the creative side of the band.

- RS talks about the trilogy Pornography/Disintegration/Bloodflowers. All very personal to him. If you want to really understand the Cure, you must listen to these three albums: they are "the heart of the Cure". Says that Bloodflowers did not get as much appraisal as the other two because of the time it was released (2000, not the 80s anymore).

- He says they will play in the LatAm tour several songs from Disintegration and a few from Pornography, but none from Bloodflowers. He thinks that the songs from the latter usually do not work in a more lively set list. They are very different, he thinks.

- Again about "This Must Be The Place" movie: he says that Sean Penn does not look like him. He (RS) has more delicate traces. But yes, he (RS) is flattered.

- Asked about whether a connection between the Cure and the Smiths makes sense to him (this was the case among Brazilian fans in 1987 when the Cure first visited the country), RS replies that he has never thought there was such a connection. Says the Cure was more akin to Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order and Siouxsie and the Banshees."

- RS about playing with Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1979-80: he said it was a great experience. He would play for the Cure as an opening act, go backstages for 20 minutes and then back to the stage to play guitar for Siouxsie and the Banshees. The latter was much more aggressive on stage, more violent. He (RS) did not want to be like that, not in his nature, but he enjoyed the difference in performance between the two bands. He said that he was a few years younger than the Banshees and that he learned a lot, but that this experience probably did not have a "dramatic impact" on what he was doing with the Cure. The vision/objectives of the two bands were very different, according to RS.

- Asked about his hobbies, RS says that he used to read comic books when he was younger. When he retires, he intends to re-read all those comic books to check if they will have the same effect on him. He goes on to say that he lives a very normal life when he is not with the Cure. He has been reading a lot: more in the last two years than what he used to read in a decade before. In 2012 he has visited places in England where he had never been. He felt that he knew more places abroad than within his home land.

- At the end, RS is asked about the time when he was 12 and dressed up with a gown stolen from his mom and got beaten by some kids at school. He explained that he did that to prove that he could do something different in response to a challenge. He said that he would probably still do the same today if necessary to make a point. (Thanks Marcos)